Fear

Writer: Marwan Mohammed

Let’s face it; all of us, at some point in our lives, were afraid of something. Perhaps it was the fear of your crush rejecting you, the fear of social rejection, the fear of losing someone important to you, or the fear of what the future hides. There are many things to be afraid of and I’m sure that in some way, at some point, you had a fear. Don’t get me wrong, you have all the right reasons to fear something, I’m sure, but let’s break it up and have a little talk about how it’s destroying your life and not letting you be your own genuine self.

The moment you tell someone you like them, you are basically throwing the ball in their court; you’re giving that person the power to turn your mood 180 degrees in that exact moment; you let them know that every minor detail in their life is important to you, that anything they say passively can make you the happiest person out there, that you’re becoming more and more like them. It’s not easy, but you have two choices. The first choice is that you just tell them and wait for their reply, which might break you into pieces (temporarily, though, nothing is permanent) or it might make you happy for a really long time. You’re giving the person a chance for their ego to inflate because, you see, when we know that we’re important to someone, we immediately think we have some kind of leverage on them, so knowing that someone likes you makes you think of yourself as desirable. This all means that your crush may start playing mind games and manipulating you once they know that you desire something more than a friendship. When you start realizing that, you need to walk away because you deserve more. The other choice is you just hide your feelings till you’re sure of the other person’s feelings. If you realize that they don’t return your feelings, then you could just hold it all in, because once you say these words, there is no turning back. You’re left there, all alone, not knowing how you should feel.

You’ve always wanted to try driving that racing motorcycle, climb to the top of the mountains in Sinai, go do something extreme, but you were always worried and afraid that something bad might happen to you or you might die. It’s normal to feel worried about your well-being when you’re considering doing something dangerous, but you should never allow it to stop you from doing something you want to do. If you’re meant to die today, you’re going to die whether you’re bungee jumping or you’re safe and sound at your home in your bed. So, don’t say no to experiences you always wanted to experience just because you’re worried about getting a few cuts and sprains.

Maybe you always wanted to express yourself in your own way and do something out of the ordinary, but you were always worried people wouldn’t like it and would shame you or even humiliate you for it, so you never expressed yourself as you always desired because of your fear. This all might’ve resulted in you not liking the person you are right now. Well, you should change that! You should never let anyone decide who you are. You should just be you and the people that are not okay with it, whoever they are, can go fuck themselves.

You always wanted to do something but you were worried about upsetting your parents or someone you love so you didn’t do it. Well, if it’s coming out of respect, then I raise my hat to you, but if it’s coming out of fear, then you have a problem over there. You should never fear your parents or anyone, in fact, respect them, hell yeah, but fear them? Absolutely not. At least that’s how I was raised and that’s what I believe in. Never fear someone and alter your decisions because of it.

There are many more scenarios I can write about but you got the point, guys. We all got those butterflies in our stomach, we all had a taste of what fear is like, so we try to become the most lovable, careful versions of ourselves, but this isn’t who you really are, not one bit. Don’t allow your fears to define you and control your life; you deserve to enjoy your life more.